1/4 Dear Godalming and Ash constituents, 
 
As you will know by now, I was re-elected early on Friday morning on a reduced majority of 891. I want to thank you for placing your trust in me.
 
This was the most arduous campaign I have ever fought. With my team we knocked on 600 doors every day for the entire election campaign. I personally met a couple of thousand people on doorsteps - and if you were one of them thank you for the overwhelmingly friendly reception. ‘Friendly’ does not of course mean you were going to vote for me! But one of the best things about our democracy is the way we keep our disagreements civil.
 
Many of the people who did vote for me made it clear they were not voting for another Conservative government. We lost the trust of the electorate and as I said in my speech when the result was announced we need to show humility and courage as we try to understand why. But putting your trust in me as local MP is an awesome responsibility in its own right and I am deeply humbled you chose to do so.

I have some thank you's;  firstly to thank Pedro Wrobel and the team at Waverley who did an impeccable job organising the election - both on the day and at the count. In such a tight election that was no mean feat and we were all extremely grateful for their professionalism.
 
Thank you as well to Paul Follows and the other candidates. Whatever our disagreements you kept this a clean fight in which, on the whole, personal attacks were avoided. That is so important if we are to maintain the dwindling trust of voters in politicians. 2/4 Thank you to my brilliant team who worked their socks off on my campaign. They delivered huge amounts of leaflets and letters (sorry for clogging up your letterboxes!), helped get our messages out on social media, canvassed and did telling on election day. It is quite a terrifying thing to knock on a stranger’s door for the first time and ask them their political opinion. But it is an important part of our democracy that we listen to voters and my team believe that from the bottom of their hearts.

1/5 The Infected Blood Scandal is the worst example of an establishment cover-up that I have ever seen - and I speak as a former Health Secretary who campaigned against many such cover ups. Around 3,000 deaths and tens of thousands of lives ruined because unaccountable people in power refused to admit they got things wrong. 2/5 To the victims, to everyone impacted, and particularly to brave Mike Dorricott who first came to me about this nearly two decades ago - the government offers its fullest apology, as the PM set out today. There are no two ways about this - we and previous governments should have acted sooner than we did.

Inflation down from 11.1% to 3.4%— that’s good news for families and for the economy as a whole. Here are some more highlights 👇 As I said in this video, it is particularly encouraging that food inflation has come down to 5% from nearly 20% a year ago.

https://twitter.com/hmtreasury/status/1770389864061526116

I know how much high inflation is hurting families and businesses across the country.
 
But why is inflation particularly high in the UK – especially food prices?

A thread 🧵👇🏻

(1/11) Firstly, a supply chain shock as we bounced back from the pandemic.

Then Putin's invasion of Ukraine:

- Caused the price of wheat (which Ukraine is a key exporter of) to spike

- Led to record gas prices, driving up costs for food production, storage & transport.

(2/11)

We’ve had a rocky patch dealing with a global pandemic and Putin’s energy shock.

But picking up some newspapers recently, you would think we were alone in facing economic challenges.

So let’s look at the facts in this thread 🧵👇

(1/6) Since the Brexit referendum, the UK has grown faster than France, Japan and Italy - and at about the same rate as Germany.

We remain the world’s:

✅ 2nd largest services exporter

✅ 3rd largest tech economy

✅ 2nd largest financial hub

✅ 9th largest manufacturer

(2/6)

Today's @ONS figures reveal we have more than a million job vacancies across the UK.

But with our unemployment rate at near historic lows, many wonder how we'll fill these vacancies.

Here's our plan 👇🏼

(1/7) First, some context:

As I said at the Budget, in 2016 our country decided to move from an economic model based on unlimited low skill migration, to one based on high wages and high skills.

I set out how we would deliver that through a major set of jobs market reforms.

(2/7)

Stats released today show govt debt as a % of GDP is almost 100%.

Why? Supporting our economy, public services and families through the pandemic and Putin's war.

We have a plan to get debt down, but not at the expense of helping families.

Let’s dig into the figures…🧵

(1/7) We had to borrow almost £400billion during the pandemic to protect lives and livelihoods.

As we started to recover, Putin invaded Ukraine sending gas prices to record highs.

We then had to spend over £90billion to help businesses and families with rising energy costs.

(2/7)

Getting our economy growing is one of @RishiSunak’s five priorities and a major focus of the Spring Budget.

We are going to help businesses recruit the UK workers they need - including expanding free childcare in England - and boost business investment 🧵

(1/10) Long-term growth means boosting productivity.

Although the UK is the 4th most innovative country in the world, our productivity is still 17% lower than France, Germany and the US.

That needs to change.

(2/10)

The NHS has been absent from this leadership campaign, yet after energy bills the biggest issue facing the new Prime Minister will be a looming winter crisis. Judging by the state of ambulance and A&E services over Summer, this Winter will be the toughest ever. A thread… We spend a similar % of GDP on health as France & Germany, but crucially, both have way more drs per head because we STILL don’t have a workforce plan. @CommonsHealth have been warning about this for years now but we have met obfuscation & resistance from @DHSCgovuk.

The Conservative Party must now decide if it wishes to change its leader. Because of the situation in Ukraine this was not a debate I wanted to have now but under our rules we must do that. Having been trusted with power, Conservative MPs know in our hearts we are not giving the British people the leadership they deserve. We are not offering the integrity, competence and vision necessary to unleash the enormous potential of our country.

Those criticizing Nazanin have got it so wrong. She doesn’t owe us gratitude: we owe her an explanation… She’s absolutely right that it took too long to bring her home. I tried my best - as did other foreign secretaries - but if trying our best took six years then we must be honest and say the problem should have been solved earlier.

How does this morning’s news affect the global order, rule of law and the future of democracies? A thread… We need to wake up: Putin wants to recreate the USSR & is ready to face us down as he thinks we won’t risk WW3. The most successful international order in the history of humanity - which has allowed millions to live in freedom & lifted millions out of poverty - is under threat.

Last night’s ‘Maternity Scandal’ #panorama on Shrewsbury was a tough watch. Hard to comprehend that an inquiry I originally commissioned to look into 23 cases has now uncovered 2000+ families whose lives were devastated by poor maternity care at one NHS trust. Struck again - as I was in 2017 when I met Richard & Rhiannon Davies - by the raw grit & courage of families who relive the avoidable death of their child daily to prevent other families facing similar tragedy. Compelling account of their bravery here:
bbc.co.uk/news/health-60…

I understand the practical reasons why we have abandoned mandatory vaccinations but think the U-turn is completely wrong. Here's why… I was intending to introduce mandatory flu vaccinations in my final year as Health Secretary before I was moved to another role.

A few thoughts on the government’s GP rescue plan announced today….firstly they are right to address crisis in this sector. Some good ideas including a new NHS covenant modeled on the military and more transparency about performance. BUT, as someone who tried & failed to get 5000 more GPs into the system, I don’t think this package will turn the tide. We got 000s more graduates into GP surgeries, but we didn't make progress because experienced GPs were retiring/going part time faster than new trainees arrived

Today’s report is most important my Select Committee has done. Taken over a year with lengthy evidence sessions (7 hours in the case of Dominic Cummings) but shows, I hope, parliament at its best as we deliver far reaching conclusions about our pandemic response…

https://twitter.com/commonshealth/status/1447713628447141888

Recommendations significant for 2 reasons: 1. unanimous agreement by 22 x-party MPs - as non-partisan as it’s possible to get. 2. Will be most comprehensive independent study ahead of public inquiry that may not publish for several years.

As health select committee chair most of the time I focus on holding the Govt to account on health. But occasionally opposition parties need to be called out too - never more so than today…. It’s outrageous that Lab & Lib Dems will vote against £12bn extra for the NHS & soc care after the year we’ve had. This is politicking of the worst kind because the crisis in the NHS & care system is real. Any wealth tax v unlikely to raise the sums needed for ageing population.

Lots of noise on social care and a possible new tax to pay for it...my thoughts in this thread. It’s progress that the soc care debate has moved on from 'whether' to 'how.' This isn’t just because it wld breach the PM's words on the steps of Downing Street, but a growing realisation that with the Covid backlog we’ll never get the NHS back on its feet without soc care reform

Here’s an early take on our two bumper select committee grillings over the last two weeks - Dominic Cummings and Matt Hancock. A thread... There was more melodrama than normal but it is not possible to stack up the most sensational revelations without evidence. Today's new @Dominic2306 tweets show the PM's total frustration ('f***ing useless' etc.) but do not prove anyone 'lied.'

Big news for the NHS that Sir Simon Stevens is stepping down. A thread... When we recruited for a successor to Sir David Nicholson in 2013, there was a good deal of trepidation about the role following controversy over the 2012 Act. Simon, however, was the standout candidate and hiring him remains one of the best decisions I have ever taken.

Hospital acquired COVID-19 remains a major problem as it STILL accounts for 15% of COVID hospital patients: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl… It remains the biggest undiscussed problem in the pandemic to date: a thread. It was even worse: a paper by PHE and LSHTM for SAGE in January stated that 20-25% of infections in hospital patients in the first wave were hospital acquired: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…